A wide choice of activities was on offer through the evening of Saturday 19 May, encouraging visitors to dip in and choose those which appealed. This included five different live music/performances, three films, mask-making activity, handling of insects and minerals and torchlight viewing of the displays.

The atmosphere was all important: the combination of the lights, sounds and many happy people made it a truly memorable occasion. 3,000 visitors came over three hours primarily brought by word of mouth recommendation based on last year's event. Around 15% had not visited previously. “Awesome - much better than excellent” was one visitor’s response on the satisfaction survey. Visitors were thrilled by the performances, particularly within these unusual settings.

At ss Great Britain, “Dream Boats” was an art based museum activities where young children and their families worked with an artist in creating giant origami boats ‘their own’ by decorating them to express their identities ’who are we?’ and their dreams for the future. Children and their families who made their boats were encouraged to return to the ss Great Britain at the end of May to watch their boats float in Bristol’s floating harbour, alongside the ss Great Britain. First launch was at 7pm so young children could join in and the night time glow extravaganza at 9pm.

All participants enjoyed the event and the volunteers and staff gained positive verbal feedback linking the historic ship to “paper” boats. The workshops were packed to capacity and over 100 people attended the evening launches. They may have been surprised by how successful their boats were!

At The Collection, Lincoln, the aim was to relate MGM’s theme ‘People – who are we?’ directly to the Night at the Museum event. An exciting programme of late night events was planned with screenings of the Hollywood Blockbuster ‘Night at the Museum’ as well as the chance for members of the public to see exhibits come to life, as historical characters from the museum’s collection were brought to life by staff members dressed up.

The event received lots of positive feedback as well as media coverage on local radio station and in local newspapers. A record 650 people came to the museum on 19th May 2007 and 60 people attended the Sunday screening of the film.

List of Shortlisted MGM2007 Commended Entries Click here to go through to case studies

1 Pitt Rivers/Natural History Museums Oxford “In a Different Light”
The two museums were thronged with 3,000 people on the evening of Saturday 19 May enjoying music, dancing, films and demonstrations.

2 SS Great Britain “Dream Boats”
Families with young children took part in creative workshops to make their dreamboats and then saw them float alongside the ss Great Britain.

3 The Collection Lincoln “Night at the Museum”
Historical characters came to life at the museum as in the film “Night at the Museum” shown later.

4 Orleans House Gallery “Carnival Arts, What has the Slave Trade to do with us?”
Families worked with carnival artist-in-residence Carl Gabriel and contributed to the design of a collaborative sculptural piece which will be part of the gallery’s Twickenham Carnival parade and will then be exhibited within the 2007 commemoration exhibition, Parallel Views: Black History in Richmond.

5 Tunbridge Wells Museum “All about art”
People of all ages (650 took part) were invited to try a range of different creative activities on the theme of ‘People - Who are we?”, including experimenting with the traditional art of creating a personal silhouette, but with a modern twist, guided by a professional artist, exploring personal identity through face-painting & henna art and the use of mirrors and finding out more about the people behind the Museum’s collections through a detective trail.

6 Bath and North East Somerset Museums “Night at the Museum”
Ten museums in Bath opened between 5.30-10pm on Saturday 12 May, some offering live music played by local students. There were also film screenings of footage relevant to individual collections, arts workshops and torchlit tours. 1, 000 visitors took part, many of whom were doing a 'trail' to see how many museums they could visit.

7 Rugby Art Gallery “Discovery Days”
The main theme of “Who are we” was linked to the environment and 100 years of scouting in a series of events with community partners and aimed at young male teenagers who don’t regularly visit museums.

8 National Railway Museum “Northern Trax”
The Northern Trax project launched its website at this MGM event – a live indie rock gig included a DJ and three bands. The Great Hall was transformed as the stage was set in the shadow of Stephenson’s statue to create a dramatic industrial backdrop. Northern Trax is about getting young people off railway lines and into something less dangerous and more fruitful e.g. music.

9 Scottish Fisheries Museums “Spinning Yarn”
This event was linked to an exhibition of traditional ganseys (fishermen’s jumpers). Contemporary knitwear designer Gillian Henny shared her inspiration in a design and knitting workshop. This was followed by an atmospheric fashion show in the museum’s Zulu gallery, with designs modelled by local teenagers to the musical accompaniment of DJ On the Fly.

10 Scarborough Museum and Art Gallery “Family Music Event”
A “noisy” Family Fun Music Session in partnership with SureStart designed to make music inspired by the pictures on display from the Gallery's collection. This was led by Kathy Seabrook, a musician from the Scarborough Spa Orchestra. Twelve families ie 75 people (some very young) took part.

11 Derby Museum and Art Gallery “Prehistoric Days”
Some 600 people came to this event which celebrated the Bronze Age Archaeology of the Derbyshire area by introducing visitors to a range of activities including Flint knapping, Clay beaker pot making, Green Woodworking demonstrations, Warrior jewellery making, Bronze Age object handling and finds identification and the showing Animation film by Sean Harris, introducing the project ‘Linking Landscapes’